April

A little while ago I signed up to a locally based fresh produce service. It’d been something I’d been considering for a while, but for one reason or another I never made the commitment – What if the box contained something myself or Adam didn’t like? What if Paul went on a toddler induced ‘no fruit or vegetables’ strike? What if I ended up wasting food? In the end though, I decided the pros outweighed the cons and quite a few weeks int my subscription, I’m so glad I decided to take the plunge…

I’d followed The Gathered Green on social media for a while now and was always impressed with how lovely the fruit and vegetables looked in their boxes. During my research I discovered they offer ‘trial boxes’, one-off purchases to get a taste for the service. The Gathered Green have a variety of different produce boxes to choose from: vegetables, fruit or a combination of both. I ordered a small organic seasonal box – a fruit and vegetable combination – which is suggested as being suitable for couples. On top of produce, you can also order meat, eggs and sourdough bread. We eat a lot bread and eggs at our house, so I decided to grab a trial purchase of those as well.

In the lead up to the first delivery, I got quite excited wondering what would be in our box. Jane the creator of the Gathered Green, sent a personalised video message welcoming me to the service, which I thought was a really nice touch. And a few days before that initial box I also received an email detailing what was in the box – which is a great help if you, like me, do a meal plan.

I was really impressed with our first box. There was a great variety of fruit and vegetables and they were fresh and tasty. The eggs had stunning orange yolks and the sourdough smelt amazing. What cemented the commitment to sign up to a weekly subscription though was the convenience of it all. In a twist of fate, the day the boxes are delivered in Wagga is the day I do our normal grocery shop. So when that email, telling me what’s in that week’s box comes through, I’m able to use our produce as the base of what we’ll cook for the next week. Where you pick up the box is also en route to the major supermarkets in town, and it’s playground adjacent, so Paul gets to have a run around too. Perfect!

Since we’ve been receiving our boxes I think as a family we’ve started to eat a wider variety of fruit and vegetables. We’re not just eating the same things week in, week out. Sure we still have frozen bags veggies, and may need a few extra things if there’s something specific on the menu, but overall most of our weekly fresh produce needs are being met by the box. It’s making us more creative with our cooking and helping us to achieve a couple of ‘meat free’ meals every week. I love that the food is grown locally, organic, seasonal, and plastic wrapper free. Paul also gets very excited to see the ‘veggie man’ every week, and when we get home, he likes to help me unpack our box.

I’m a total convert. We’re getting good food in our bellies, and supporting local farmers. Price wise our subscription is very reasonable and I haven’t noticed a marked difference in our weekly food spend since we’ve started utilising the boxes. It’s a win-win for me.

Have a wonderful few weeks. I’ll catch you next month.

M. x